*Cricket sounds* So… how is everyone? (Audience boos and throws tomatoes at the author) I'm sorry! I know I haven't been on in a long time! But! I can explain. I was grounded for who knows what right now (I really don't know why). Plus, creativity has eluded me since I last wrote all I have in my little *black* notebook. And I've been a little lazy. But the major reason I haven't been on in so long is mostly the expulsion from computers. So now! The next chapter of Wake Up!

~OoO~

A humming reached the boy's ears. Well, not a boy, but not quite a man yet. Anyway, he heard a humming, coming from deeper in the forest. A normal person would ignore it, thinking it a wood sprite trying to get them lost; but Oliver Davis wasn't normal, or at least, by common standards. By royal standards, he- oh, who am I kidding, his IQ is genius level, girls fall left and right over his looks, and his status is Crown Prince. I'd say that's abnormal.

It doesn't help that he was a scientist and into the paranormal. I mean, come on! There are fairies and sprites and witches and dragons! And he was into the paranormal, in a magic world! That's just not right!

*ahem* As I was saying, Oliver Davis was anything but normal. So, he became curious as to what caused the humming. It didn't help that he was lost; or maybe it did. Depended on what was at the source of the humming.

So he followed the sound. He became so entranced with the humming (he'd say figuring out what being could possibly make it), he didn't notice the pond until he was in it. That is to say, he fell in it.

The sound of snickering reached his ears. He looked up and around; seeing nothing, he glowered at the air.

'Gene.' He grumbled in his head. All that responded was more laughter. Miffed (A.N: After writing this, I kept saying miffed; it's a fun word), he stood, climbed out of the pond, and kept walking through the forest with as much dignity as possible.

Who.

Mai turned, looking around. 'Strange.' She turned back to the patch.

Who, who.

She jerked her head towards the trees; she sighed. "Owls shouldn't be awake during the day, you know."

"Aww, you caught me." At first, she thought the air had said that (magical world: wind spirits and all), but then she saw a boy step out. Cheekily grinning, the boy was slightly taller than her, with navy black hair and eyes like a blue crystal cave. He was really pale. In fact, she thought, he almost looked… transparent. On the inside, her eyes narrowed in suspicion, though outwardly, she smiled.

"Hello," she greeted the boy. "You know, you should really look up your bird calls. Any other kind, and I would have truly thought you were one."

"Eh, oh well." The boy shrugged, lazy grin in place. "Anyway, why are you so deep inside the forest, princess?"

Her inwardly, suspicious eyes twitched in irritation.

"Two things," she held up a finger. "One, my name is not princess, it is Mai, nice to meet you, too." Two fingers up. "Two, I should be asking you: what are you doing here?" She lowered her hand.

The boy cleared his throat.

~OoO~

Oliver was not lost. He'd tell you so if he weren't so concentrated (he's lost). The humming had just stopped. Previous to this, the sound seemed fairly close and he'd been going in the same direction since his little *ahem* mishap. After he couldn't hear the humming any longer, he just continued in the direction he pinpointed the humming to have come from.

After walking for not fifteen feet, he stopped to listen to… listen to what? He paused looking around. It sounded like a one-sided conversation. Turning first to his right and seeing nothing, he kept turning to his right, until he saw a clearing, more distinctly, a girl sitting in said clearing, to his, originally, back left, possibly one hundred, a hundred and five degrees from his original direction. Judging how the clearing looked almost camouflaged against the forest setting, he felt justified upon having missed this clearing (the girl *snicker*). Hiding behind one of the trees, he was glad the girl's back was to him.

'Now, why would someone be out this far into the forest?' Oliver thought suspiciously, blatantly ignoring that he was also that far in the forest. He paid greater attention to what the girl was saying.

"-What are you doing here?" The girl asked. Oliver half thought she was talking to him, but dismissed the idea.

She said nothing for a few minutes, and he decided to step into the clearing.

"My name is of no consequence, sorry," the boy grinned. Mai just scowled at him. "As to why I'm here-" he stopped suddenly and then turned and ran. 'Vanished out of sight to not spook me,' she guessed. Still, she stood up abruptly when the boy had run, startling Oliver in the process.

Oliver had the strangest urge to ask if she was okay, but chose not to, so that she wouldn't do anything else that might startle and/or harm him.
Mai sighed and sat again, remembering the needed herbs and plants and going back to her applethorn patch.

Seeing she wouldn't speak anymore, he spoke up, her back to him.

"Who were you talking to?" Oliver asked.

Mai started, surprised at two things: one, that the boy came back so quickly, and two, not actually expecting him to come back.

"I was talking to-" While speaking, she had been turning. Upon seeing the speaker, she broke off, knowing now this had not been the boy she'd seen. Thankfully, she hadn't said what she was thinking, which was "you". Instead, she stammered out, "To… to my-myself." The boy, who wasn't who she'd originally been talking to, but looked like him, just raised a brow. She turned away in response.

Oliver became perplexed; this was rare, and in turn, heightened his curiosity of the girl. She'd paled at the sight of him, he noticed.

'He's definitely different; they look the same, but… his eyes… they're so cold. The first's,' she thought, 'were warm and full of humor, but this man. No, they definitely aren't the same.' She also noted that his were more ocean blue-and-gray, like the stormy seas, though she'd never seen anything larger than a lake.

Looking back at him, she saw he was still watching her. She turned back, feeling a touch of fear. She gathered the last of what she needed from her patch, stood with the basket in hand, and turned to fully face him. Her expression was a nervous smile.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you, but I still need to collect some stuff, and it's getting on in the day, so… bye!" With that, she bolted.

Oliver stood shocked. Normally, a girl would fawn and swoon over him, but this girl ran…! Blinking, and still wondering why she was talking to air, he ran after her.

Mai zagged, went one direction, headed back to the patch, and went in all sorts of paths. Finally, not sure her erratic running course would deter the stranger, she tied the basket to her skirt, and climbed a nearby tree.

Twenty seconds behind her, Oliver did not see her climb.

"Damn," he cursed. He turned and started to walk away.

Mai, from her safe point high up (taking the term "tree hugger" to a literal form), sighed in relief, and didn't notice the basket slip from its simple knot until it was too late. She watched, horrified, as the traitorous object plummeted to earth.

Oliver heard crackling and a dull thud. He turned and walked towards the as-of-yet unseen basket. Looking closely, he saw the object, filled with the plant the girl had been picking. Basing the loudness of the sound and the spot on which the basket sat, he knew it fell, possibly fifteen or twenty feet from its landing point. With this knowledge in mind, he looked up. Right into the fearful face of the basket's owner.

He sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked up again.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he called up to her. She didn't look consoled. "If I were, I could have done so back in the clearing; instead, I spoke aloud to you. Now, come down." He was satisfied to see her comply, even though she still had a look of suspicion.

When she touched ground, he stood still. No sense in making her run again.

"Now then, I only have three questions. I expect a prompt answer to each before I go." That said, he sat on a large, nearby rock. She stayed standing.

"Why are you in the forest, picking herbs you could very well have purchased in a market?" He stared at her waiting. She stared back, hesitant, before opening her mouth.

"I live here in the forest. Only my aunt and uncle go outside it, for things the forest cannot provide."

Oliver nodded, expecting as much.

"Why-" he began, but the girl interrupted.

"I just want to say, then ask you something." When Oliver said nothing, she took it as her go ahead.

"Since I am now forced to talk extensively to you, I believe we should be introduced." Feeling that she should go first, she started again. "My name is Mai, I'm pleased to meet you."
"You should be," Oliver started immediately after she finished. His sentence and his tone irritated, annoyed, and plain old made her angry. "My name is Kazuya Shibuya."

'Oh, I see; well, I can tell I have no need for your real name, narcissist, so I'll just call you Naru (in private, of course,' she thought, really ticked. She got herself to calm down enough to finally speak again.

"Anyway, now for my question," upon which she goes starry-eyed and wondering. "What's a market like?" She was excited to know. Again, he answered promptly.

"Noisy, crowded, and generally unpleasant," he said, degrading and cold.

"Dammit, why does he have to have the same answer as Lin," she mumbled. Oliver's eyes widened slightly at hearing this (he has super-hearing).

"Who is Lin, and how do you know him?" He asked.

Mai almost replied, stopped herself, and instead said:

"Are those the next two questions you really want me to answer?" She inquired with a ghost of a sly grin. He only glared at her. She, in turn, just raised a brow.

"No, and since we come back to this, I will ask you my original questions now." He had leaned forward during the brief stray from the topic, and now leaned back.

"Why did you run?

~OoO~

Phew! That was a lot of typing! My neck hurts and I really wanna catch up on everything else. So for now, I will leave off at this point. Remember to review, because it is every authors' bread and water. :D I love you all! zerocchi signing off!